Tuesday, 31 July 2012

A prominent Singaporean businessman was sentenced to three months in jail yesterday for having paid sex with a minor, as dozens of other accused men await their fate in a prostitution scandal.

Howard Shaw, 41, a grandson of Asian movie mogul Runme Shaw and a former environmental activist, was charged in April after being found to have engaged the services of a 17-year-old Singaporean in October 2010.

Shaw, a married father of two, is appealing the sentence and posted bail pending the appeal hearing.

PUTRAJAYA: A Singaporean taxi driver will serve a four-year term after he lost his appeal for smuggling an 11-year-old boy of a Chinese national to Germany.

Describing human trafficking as a grave offence, Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Raus Md Shariff, chairing a three-man bench, unanimously dismissed Ng Gim Teck's final appeal to set aside a decision of the Shah Alam High Court which enchanced his jail term from six months to four years.

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make several changes to his Cabinet and other appointments, effective from August 1, 2012 and further changes effective from November 1, 2012.

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) will be restructured to form three new ministries.

They are the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). All three ministries will be established on November 1.

Universities such as Yale need to respect the human rights of their staff and students

Yale university’s decision to set up a liberal arts college at the National University of Singapore (NUS) while accepting Singapore’s restrictions on students’ rights to free speech and freedom of association is outrageous.

Human rights organisations are rightly concerned. One group said in a statement that Yale is “betraying the spirit of the university as a centre of open debate and protest by giving away the rights of its students at its new Singapore campus.”

The partnership is another reminder that universities are now primarily profit-run, often multi-national businesses that will fully exploit the opportunities offered by globalisation with less thought for the needs of their students.

A program that allowed Yale University undergraduates to study at Peking University for credit has been canceled, The Yale Daily News reported last week.

The student newspaper called the move “an abrupt end” to a partnership that began in 2006 and was reaffirmed as recently as December. Yale said in a statement that the reason was “lower than anticipated enrollments,” with only four students scheduled to participate in the program this autumn, although expenses were covered in the students’ regular tuition.

The program was not without controversy. In 2007, a Yale biology professor teaching at the Beijing campus sent a widely circulated e-mailblaming Chinese faculty and administrators for tolerating widespread plagiarism

SINGAPORE: The group meets every Saturday evening at one of their homes. They read prayers, talk about their struggles with faith and catch up on their friends’ happenings for the past week.

On Saturday, this Christian prayer group in Singapore had the City Harvest Church scandal on their minds, and they were frustrated that the financial scandal at the mega-church was dragging on this long.

“I kind of feel as though the government is trying to drag it out to try and tell us that religion is bad,” said Thomas, a Singaporean citizen of British origin. He told Bikyamasr.com that “this scandal has really affected all Christians in Singapore and we just want it to be over so Jesus Christ is not defamed.”

In Singapore generally the relevant regulators would have to review the circumstances of each case in order to determine if a company operating in multiple sectors has breached any competition rules said an Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore IDA spokesperson.

On the specific issue of provision of access to Internet content ISPs are subject to IDA's Net Neutrality policy.

Broadly it seeks to facilitate a competitive Internet access market via IDA's Telecom Competition Code to reduce incentives for ISPs to engage in blocking or discriminatory conduct that restricts consumer choice improve information transparency for consumers to better understand Internet broadband service offerings and ISP's traffic management practices and protect consumer interests as well as ensure consumers enjoy a reasonable quality of Internet access via Quality of Service QoS requirements and a prohibition against ISPs blocking access to legitimate content on the Internet.

Singapore will be able to meet its water requirements independently ahead of the 2061 expiration of a century-long supply agreement with Malaysia “if need be,”the head of the city-state’s water utility said.

Desalination and recycling plants produce 40 percent of the 380 million British gallons (456 million U.S. gallons) of water companies in Singapore and its 5.2 million population use daily, Chew Men Leong, chief executive of PUB, said in an interview on July 27. A downtown dam adds a further 10 percent, with the remaining coming from its reservoirs and imports from Malaysia.

“We have made progress to the point that we are now much more confident in terms of water security and sustainability,”said Chew, 44, a former naval chief who joined the utility about a year ago. “If you’re asking me this question about when will we ever get self-sufficiency, I will put it this way that we can be self-sufficient if need be.”

With Singapore’s economy already teetering on the edge of slowdown and possible recession, residents of the island country are facing a new challenge: rising food prices and an increase in cost of living.

In recent months, the country has seen raw food prices move steadily upward, leaving residents to pay the price at the cashier.

“We have bought the same things almost every week and it is right now a lot more than it had been earlier this year,” said small business owner Tang, who told Bikyamasr.com that “if it continues to go up like this it could be a very frustrating situation and some people won’t be able to deal with it.”

Inflation expectations of Singapore
households edged higher in June from March according to a university
survey published today signalling authorities may find it harder to put a
lid on future price increases.

Households expect prices to rise by 4 45
per cent over the next year up from 4 13 per cent in March according to
the Singapore Management University-MasterCard survey on inflation.

The
five-year outlook was for headline inflation of 5 37 per cent up from 5
20 per cent in the March survey.

As card issuers Visa and MasterCard gave
in to a settlement with merchants in the United States following an
anti-trust lawsuit – allowing them to charge customers more when they
pay with credit cards – retailers here are also feeling the squeeze as
consumers increasingly go cashless even with purchases for everyday
items.

Previously Visa and MasterCard prohibited merchants around the
world from passing on credit card transaction fees to customers – the
rule was even written into law in some American states Merchants are
also not allowed to impose minimum purchase requirements for credit card
payments.

In Singapore TODAY understands that these rules are stated in
the contract that merchants sign with the acquiring banks which process
the credit

Mr Kelvin Ong Wee Loong, the founder of AristoCare centre, charges a whopping $250 per lesson for parents of primary school students looking to clinch a place in the coveted Gifted Education Programme (GEP).

GEP is a highly selective academic programme in Singapore, designed to identify the top 1 per cent of students from each academic year.

On his website, the 36-year-old claimed he was previously from Clementi Town Primary before being admitted to Anglo-Chinese School's (Primary) GEP in Primary 4.

Alex Wong, a professional gravedigger, shares real and personal stories of his encounters with the supernatural

Ghosts hover near him when he works, but that doesn’t bother him one bit.

They’re friends by now and he’s not afraid, shared professional gravedigger Alex Wong.

Affectionately known to his friends as “Tua Ya Pek”, a Taoist god of the spiritual underworld, Wong has been exhuming graves for the past 30 years. Often, his services are needed when the government decides to make way for development. One such project is the eight-lane highway that will cut through Bukit Brownearly next year.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government fueled tensions between Japan and China as it took out an advertisement in Friday's Wall Street Journal seeking US support for its so-called purchase plan of the Diaoyu Islands.

Observers said the provocation suggests Japan is anxious to get the United States involved in a dispute with its neighbor.

According to Kyodo News, the advertisement took up two-thirds of a single page in the newspaper.

Monday, 30 July 2012

Since November 2011, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica), Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, has been calling for Internet practitioners to create a code of conduct by themselves, for themselves. His second-in-command at Mica, Chan Chun Sing, has also urged the same.

The code is to be some sort of guideline or signpost on what is acceptable and what is not. It is a means to self-regulation, Yaacob was reported to have said. "He said such guidelines, which were raised in Parliament recently, can moderate online opinions and discussions in a 'rational and sensible manner that will not offend other groups, other communities'." (Straits Times)

Chan said, in April this year, "We must agree that (the Internet) is our space ... so I would encourage everyone using and interacting in that space to come forward and define that space. Collectively, we will define the norms that we would like to see being exhibited in that space."

NAR: What is your opinion with regards as to where
Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) should invest their funds, specifically
should they be limited to investing abroad or be given flexibility to
invest at home or/and abroad?

Balding: From a financial perspective I see nothing
wrong with sovereign wealth funds investing in their home markets. From
a political stand point, it is very difficult to do so without creating
extreme conflicts of interest. Let me give you a little background
before answering your question.

First, most SWFs do not have capital markets that can be considered
investment destinations so for many especially newer funds, this is not a
problem.

I just want to share my dissapointment in our MP of their 'trying to
help fellow citizens'. I have been trying to get a Hdb rental flat since
2008. The are countless times that i made my visits to the HDB to
appeal, hundreds of appeal email that i sent to the HDB office and also
countless trips to my MP in Pasir ris, however till now, 2012, all the
efforts FAIL

Their reasons are, 1) my father has got a sales proceed and its a
straight NO without even trying to help and ask and understand why do we
sell our old house in the first place. and 2) my salary is above
$1500/-. Yes my salary is above such but are they looking at my family
and how do we survive in Singapore with a number of 7 people in the
family with a mother who suffers heart failure, sister who are
physically disable, paying the renting house and our everyday needs.

I am truly disapointed with the MP of Pasir ris when i went there
personally and told them that i have already applied for BTO and i need
their help in approving that i pay my 5% cash using the deduction of my
cpf as i cannot afford to pay cash. I am not allowed to purchase a flat
using the HLE loan as i am not 35 therefore my chance is only the bank
loan but i cannot afford to pay the 5% cash. however, up to this date, i
have yet to received any letters from the HDB or the CPF board. thus, i
left with no choice but to take 2 bank loans just to pay the 5% cash.

The latest list of wealthy Singaporeans from Forbes magazine showed
lots of money sloshing around Singapore – but it may just be the tip of
the iceberg.

The magazine’s latest annual ranking
of the city-state’s wealthiest 40 individuals found that Singapore’s
richest people have a collective net worth of US$59.4 billion, up from
$54.4 billion last year, with 16 billionaires locally compared to 13
last year. But separate estimates from Wealth-X,
a group which provides intelligence on the world’s high net worth
individuals, suggests that there may be at least 10 others in Singapore
worth over US$280 million who might have been left out of the list.
($280 million was the worth of the 40th ranked Singaporean this year, Ho Kwon Ping of Banyan Tree Resorts).

Boston Consulting Group, meanwhile, has said Singapore has the
highest percentage of millionaire households in the world, suggesting
there are lots of other big fish who have tons of money but just not
quite enough to make Forbes’s roster.

Happily I go to Malaysia change my S$1 to $2.52+ ringgit every few weeks
to spend...however, some Singaporean ya-ya-papaya think that strong S$
means Singapore economy more powerful or gaining strength on Malaysia
and so on. This is the view of IGNORANT people.

1. Why did MAS allow Sing$ to go up so much despite negative GDP growth last quarter?

There
is very high inflation in Singapore and raising the S$ makes the
imported component of the CPI lower thus lowering the overall inflation
figure to 5.3% which is already quite bad. Imagine at 6% our inflation
will be higher than 3-month spanish bonds!!! This is a sign the
Singapore govt is losing control of domestic price inflation and using
the S$ to make imports cheap to hide inflation pressures.

2. Our export sector is hurting and property bubble is prop up to keep us out of recession?
Why
you think MAS allow 50 year home loan. If property sector shrink
immediately Singapore will be in recession because export sector is
weak. The govt is just playing the number to prevent a recession by
artificially propping up property sector.

While the govt is so obsessed with the utilitarian purpose
of having babies, the populace are having fun in a different way, in having
sex. But how come no babies? That is an interesting question isn’t it? So much
sex but so few babies.

The fault lies in how sex is conducted, in car parks and in Paris
and in budget hotels are not too conducive to produce babies. And paid sex is
less likely to give the desire results.

There are two more serious issues. The men have a fetish craving
for sex with the sweet young things. Anything above the legally permitted age
is not desirable. Isn’t this serious? The wives better start thinking. If this
is true to the majority, marriage is too late as the spouses are far from the
desired age group to have sex… and babies

Over the last two decades, I began to worry for my old age. My Camel
Brand Cigarettes has gone over 11 times in prices and still keep rising.
The 10 cents per cup of coffee or tea has gone up by as much as 10
times and that 4-room flat has gone up by as much as twenty times or
more. What’s even more dire is that inflation which was unheard of
before the 80s or too insignificant to mention then is now running at
over 4% to 5% yearly.

Do you understand the pain that much of the current problems are brought upon us by our rulers’ policy with no remedy in sight?

The PAP has failed the us. The old cannot retire, families are slaves
to debts (expensive flats), school leavers cannot find jobs, older
workers get replaced by cheap foreigners. So many university degree
holders driving taxi. Our 47th National Day is approaching. How to
celebrate? What to celebrate?”

Apparently, Minister Yaacob Ibrahim had a fruitful afternoon addressing 800
secondary school children some afternoon ago. In the dialogue, he urged all
netizens to come together to develop an internet code of conduct. [report]
Who would have expected that?

What Minister Yacoob does not realise is
that there is already a code of conduct in the internet. Do
you know what it meant to TYPE IN CAPS? If you received an email you are
reasonably expected to reply if you are the main recipient under "to:" and
recipients under "cc:" and "bcc:" can reply but not expected to

There are some
form of syntax in communication, be in it business emails, flaming wars on a
random forum or gaming with your guild mates. The list goes on. Minister
Yacoob's vision was both perplexing and unnecessary.

Agreed that something is REALLY REALLY WRONG with the education system.

Chinese teachers have been replaced by those from PRC.

My
kids used to come home saying how high the heels of the PRC teacher’s
shoes were. How she keep her hair like a pop-star. How she scolded the
children (in Chinese) “So easy also don’t know, you Singapore children
are really stupid”.

Mr Kelvin Ong Wee Loong, the founder of AristoCare centre, was told by MOE to stop lying about his credentials. Apparently, the private tutor who charges an arm and leg to help your child qualify for the Gifted Education Programme (GEP), was never a pupil or a teacher of the GEP, as he claimed.

It was reported in The Straits Times that several town councils are going to increase their monthly fees soon, with the increase ranging from $1 to $12 per month, over a period of 2 years. Is there not anything that the HDB dwellers can do to stop this increase?

Town council fees are something HDB dwellers have no control over. Whatever the town councils want, we have to pay, with no bargaining, no negotiation, no service guarantee and KPI or whatever. We just have to accept whatever the town council delivers. We just have to “trust” that the town councils are using the best of our money. But are they?

I did a brief calculation for town council fees collected from my block, and allocated it out to the various usage of the fees as per the financial report of my town council. Below are my findings on a PER MONTH basis:

The words on the banner said it all! This is a picture of Chen
Guanming, a 57-year-old Chinese farmer who took over two years to cycle from China to London
for the London Olympics.

Yes, you read that right. He CYCLED from China to London!
Cycling over 60,000 km through 16 different countries, he first went through Malaysia, Thailand
and Vietnam, but was turned
back at the border of Myanmar
(boo, boo, boo). Left with no choice, he changed course and slowly wound his way
through the mountains of Tibet,
traveled across Central Asia and then Europe. All
in his rickshaw!

Now, that is what I called the "Olympic Spirit"!
I’m from Singapore
where people complain about a 10min delay on the subway so the Olympic
authorities really need to give this guy a gold medal for this awe-inspiring
journey that lasted more than 2 YEARS!

The following annual rainfall data was obtained from the government website [1].

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1563

1812

2287

1819

2826

1853

2480

2910

2077

2289

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

2277

1608

1807

2956

2066

1925

2167

1775

2766

2168

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

2326

1463

1582

1994

2687

1484

2536

2103

2599

2463

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

1524

1877

2261

2169

1942

2333

2418

1119

2623

2134

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2371

2783

1749

2391

2136

1931

2753

2886

2325

1921

2010

2011

2075

2524

It shows that we have five decades of rainfall data but the expert panel only used four. Plotting the data on a graph below:

We see that rainfall has been fluctuating up and down over the last
52 years. If our period of consideration started on a trough year and
ended on a peak year, we would more likely conclude that rainfall has
increased. But if our period of consideration started on a peak year
and ended on a trough year, we would more likely conclude that rainfall
has decreased instead. Since our conclusion depends very much on which
years we choose to compare, comparing actual rainfall between years is
not a satisfactory way of deciding how much rainfall has increased or
decreased over time.

After the big fook on the alleged top honchos of CNB and SCDF getting
free sexual rides, the intriguing episode of sex for grade in NUS is
getting too rich for my damaged heart!

National University of Singapore associate law professor Tey Tsun
Hang was charged Friday morning with six counts of corruption in a
sex-for-grades scandal.

In two of the charges, Tey, 41, a former district judge, was accused
of having corruptly obtained sexual gratification from a Darinne Ko Wen
Hui in July 2010, when she had been a student at NUS, as inducement for
showing favour in assessing her academic performance, court documents
showed.

Reports by the local Chinese tabloid have pointed out that Prof Tey only gave
Darinne Ko a B grade for sleeping with him. Thus far, they have not managed to
interview someone who got an A from Prof Tey to find out the
difference.

If Darinne only got a B, Prof Tey might not be guilty of
corruption but only at fault for improper sexual conduct with his
student.

Other reports in the Chinese tabloid said that she likes to wear
mini-skirts and dislike wearing long skirts. Described as 'tomboyish', it is
unsure if long skirts 'got in the way' of her movements. Her friends still
cannot believe the RJC school runner would have an affair with her professor.

Mr Desmond Kuek, 48, a former Chief of Defence Force and SAF scholar will likely be appointed as SMRT CEO taking over the position vacated by Saw Phaik Hwa.

Kuek is currently the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources. He is slated to leave the elite Administrative Service on 30 Sep. The Public Service Division has announced in June that Kuek wanted to ‘explore new opportunities in the private sector in a career change’.

When contacted yesterday, Kuek said he was still waiting to hear from SMRT. SMRT, as a matter of procedure, has to write in to inform LTA of any CEO appointments. It is understood that SMRT will be making an announcement soon.

67% of Singapore's Chiefs of Defences are and were Chiefs of Government-Linked
Transport-related Companies

By now, Singaporeans know that LG(NS) Desmond
Kuek will be heading to SMRT, taking the top seat as CEO. While his appointment
might have caught many Singaporeans by surprise, I am not surprised at all.
Before the news was out, I have long predicted in June last month that
Desmond will be SMRT's new CEO.

And by the rule of
statistics: 67% of Singapore's Chiefs of Defences are and were Chiefs of
Government-Linked Transport-related Companies. Let me explain this as
follows:

If she doesn’t make it herself, she finds a suitable alternative at Glory on East Coast Road, one of the rare places that still makes the snack.

Kueh bong kong (Peranakan)

The soft, smooth and sweet dessert is made from an over-50-year old recipe created by the late mother of one of Glory Catering’s co-owners, Chin Choon Siang.

Glory now outsources production so it can be made fresh every morning, but the recipe and ingredients suppliers have not changed over the years, and they still insist on using fresh coconut milk (as opposed to the commercially processed version) in their recipe.

Devagi Sanmugam loves putu piring – the Malay version of the more common kueh tutu.

While the latter is usually made from glutinous rice flour and a variety of fillings like peanuts or grated coconut, putu piring comprises rice flour and gula melaka, and is much harder to find in Singapore.

Hashim Jumaat, 61, makes a living by selling this delicacy ($2 for five) at his stall on Haig Road.

It was a recipe passed down in the family since the 1950s, and Hashim himself has been at it for 18 years.

The recipe and ingredients have survived the decades, but have been tweaked somewhat to accommodate more modern cooking forms, from charcoal to electric.

Haig Road Hawker Centre, Block 14, #01-08. Tel: 9688-3067

Appom (South Indian)

Indian food has a bad reputation for being oily – blame the likes of roti prata, papadum and vadai.

But chef Damian d’Silva swears by Muthu Letchmi’s traditional South Indian appom ($1) which she says is cooked with no oil at all.

The batter is a recipe that came from a long line of ancestors in India, and it allows the appom to still be crispy just by cooking it with steam.

The dish is made using a simple batter of rice flour and old coconut water, mixed 10 to 12 hours earlier to allow fermentation to take place. Coconut milk is then added just before the appom is fried.

Letchmi’s stall in Ghim Moh Food Centre has been there for 15 years, of which she spent five perfecting the slightly sourish taste of the appom by comparing it with the memory of her childhood breakfasts.

It was a dish commonly cooked on Boxing Day, using all the leftovers from Christmas dinners. Eventually, it became accepted as devil’s curry, or curry devil, because of how spicy it is.

There are already only a handful of Eurasian restaurants in Singapore, but of these few, a decent version of devil’s curry ($18) can be found at Quentin’s, located in the Eurasian Community House itself.

The dish is made from a recipe that came from the ancestors of owner Quentin Pereira, 40, who admits that many variations to the recipes do exist. There are five must-haves, however – ginger, mustard seeds, onions, chilli and vinegar.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Former law student recounts losing her virginity to professorThe 41-year-old law professor caught in a sex-for-grades scandal
asked the court to let him defend himself and cross-examine witnesses at
the start of his trial Thursday.This is even though he had already hired lawyers for himself.Associate Professor Tey Tsun Hang from the National University of
Singapore (NUS) is facing six corruption charges of obtaining gifts and
sex from his former student Darinne Ko Wen Hui, who allegedly received
better grades.Ko, 23, testified against him as the first witness, telling the court
how she lost her virginity after having sex in his office at NUS in
July 2010.read more

Cecilia Sue told investigators that she had a
long-running sexual relationship with former CNB Chief Ng Boon Gay, only
to deny it all in court, raising the question of whether she will be
charged for lying.

15879 views
| 47 commentsread moreFull reports, videos and pictures of Ng Boon Gay trialread moreSpecials on Ng Boon Gay Trialread more16-year-old Vietnamese prostitute lied about her age to 60-year-old lawyer clientThe 16-year-old Vietnamese prostitute in the centre of a vice syndicate,
testified on Tuesday that she had lied to lawyer Spencer Gwee Hak
Theng, about her age.The court heard that she had told Gwee -
who is charged with having paid sex with a minor - that she was 19
years-old when he asked for her age prior to intercourse.Gwee, a former deputy public prosecutor, however, did not ask to see her passport, and later paid her $300 for the encounter.read moreStrong message and ‘power’ photo from CPIB’s 60th anniversary

It is a photo that has been going around on Facebook, capturing three
of Singapore’s Prime Ministers, past and present, striding along like
three leads in the opening credits of a TV show on criminal justice.

Fittingly,
they were attending the 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of
the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on Tuesday.

"Not so often that all three of us attend a ceremony together,” Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on his Facebook page, and that probably
sums up why the photo has been shared by online users.

WP MP Sylvia Lim asked a simple question. But Shanmu, the crafty fox,
made it look like as if there's an innuendo in it, thereby avoiding the
embarrassment of the Woffling Woffles Wu case. Wait a minute, wasn't he
the guy who also threatened a particular blogger with a legal suit,
avoiding denying another embarrassment?

Here is the report of the crafty fox's convoluted words, which of course, PAPpy Lappy dog ST, will lap it all up.

Singapore has long prided -- and touted -- itself as a place where
the type of corruption rampant elsewhere in Asia simply does not exist.
The high salaries paid to Singapore officials -- junior cabinet
ministers earn $750,000 and the prime minister gets $1.7 million -- are
supposed to forestall financial temptation.

But a recent string of
high-profile corruption scandals has highlighted Singapore officials'
weakness to other forms of temptation as well.

The Singaporean government appears
to have taken notice. Earlier this month, law minister K Shanmugam said
in a speech that anyone who breaches "moral rectitude and correct
conduct in public service" is "likely to be found out, and severe
punishment is certain for those who are guilty."

After the lapses ...More than one government agency is believed to have done away with the
practice of using petty cash to pay for small value purchases including
stationery, which now require written approval.

At least
one statutory board now makes it compulsory for staff to attend a
three-day procurement course - and pass a test - before they are allowed
to buy anything using taxpayers' money.

These are some of
the new requirements - as told to TODAY by civil servants - to tighten
the public procurement system in the wake of a spate of lapses in
recent months.

21 govt bodies found to have lapses inSINGAPORE: 21 government bodies in Singapore, including 10
ministries and 11 statutory boards, have been found to have lapses in
managing public funds and resources.

This is according to a report
by the Auditor-General Office's, which investigated complaints on such
matters for the financial year 2011 to 2012.Among the findings,
the Manpower Ministry was found to have inadequate scrutiny when it came
to awarding a tender to buy office chairs.read more

Govt to review procurement procedures, says Tharman

THE Government is not satisfied with the "state of
procurement", and wants to see how it can be improved, said Deputy Prime
Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

While a constant review of rules is important, what is essential is
making sure that procurement officers are up to the mark, and that
action is promptly taken when irregularities surface, he noted.

This includes taking disciplinary action against errant officers and
taking matters to the courts when an offence is suspected, he said.

8 debarment cases due to corruption involving public officers, contracts

There have been eight debarment cases on grounds of
corruption involving public officers and government contracts since
2004.

Revealing the figures in a written reply to Parliament on Tuesday,
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in all these cases,
the individuals involved, including the public officers were convicted.

The companies and businesses involved were also debarred for a period of five years.

With all the corruption cases of sex as bribes and the Bromptomgate
scandal, every suspicious move within our Ministries and Stat Boards has
to be looked with scrutiny. The latest case is the resignation of a
Director of Corporate Communications, Ministry of Health Holdings.

Note how the ST plays down the seriousness of the issue by simply implying the case was one of non-compliance.

Ducktours
announced on 26th July 2012 in TODAY newspaper that they would be
exiting the Singapore River in December 2012, as they have not been
awarded one of the 2 water taxi operating licences in the Marina Bay
(which includes Singapore River) in a recent tender exercise called by
URA. The 2 licensees from 1st January 2013 would be (i) Singapore River
Cruise (the other incumbent operator) and (ii) a new joint venture
between Global Yellow Pages Ltd and Leisure Empire Pte Ltd.

According
to their blog (hipporiver.blog.com), Ducktours felt that they have lost
out in the tender exercise because URA has imposed new mandatory
requirements on the operators, some of which would result in an
unsustainable business case. After an unsuccessful appeal to MND, the
ministry that oversees URA, to review the tender specifications, they
submitted a tender bid which they thought was prudent and projected
losses for first 3 years of operations. Given the revenue-centric nature
of the tender, where the bid price (licence fee payable by the
operator) was given 60% emphasis, and the quality of the proposal
including concept, business plan and track record accorded only 40%,
Ducktours was not awarded a licence as a result of their low bid.

Ducktours
has since written an open letter in their blog to the Prime Minister,
citing lapses in the URA tender process including a lack of feasibility
and market study done by URA prior to crafting the tender
specifications, in their bid to get the authorities to review the tender
exercise. However, Ducktours could be missing the over the point here.
The fact that there were 5 other tenderers have vindicated URA and shown
that there was still a business case, unlike the pessimistic scenario
painted by Ducktours. However, it is Global Yellow Pages, one of the 2
licence awardees that attention should be focused on, and questions
should also be asked on whether there were any lapses in the tendering
process.

CPIB: What Is Corruption in Singapore?When I think
corruption, my mind hits Lee and Lee. No, not the legal firm that does
HDB conveyancing but the father and son team that were recently guests
of honour at the sixtieth anniversary of the CPIB. [Link] and [Link] with the son launching a book on the subject of corruption.

The woman at the
centre of the high-profile corruption trial involving a former top
Singapore civil servant is "clinically depressed" and has been seeking
medical treatment since news of the scandal broke.But questions of whether she was really in love with the accused also surfaced.On the opening day of the trial of former Central Narcotics Bureau chief Ng Boon Gay
on Tuesday, the court heard how Cecilia Sue Siew Nang, 36, has "not
been coping well with the situation she's found herself in".read more11 prosecution witnesses to testify at ex-SCDF chief's trialEleven
prosecution witnesses will be produced in court when an eight-day trial
involving former Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) chief Peter Lim
Sin Pang begins in January.They
include SCDF officers and one of the three women at the centre of the
sex-for-IT-contracts case - the biggest graft affair involving a public
servant in two decades. The prosecution said yesterday it would proceed
first with one of the 10 corruption charges that Lim is accused of, with
the remaining charges stood down, for now.Speaking to reporters after a
pre-trial conference, Lim's lawyers - Mr Hamidul Haq and Mr Bala
Chandran - said the charge relates to the 52-year-old allegedly
obtaining oral sex from Ms Pang Chor Mui in May 2010 in exchange for
advancing her company's business interests with the SCDF. Ms Pang is the
General Manager of Nimrod Engineering and the firm was one of SCDF's
vendors.read moreSingapore ex-top cop faces sex-for-favours charges

The former head of the Singapore police's drug enforcement
unit was charged Tuesday with corruption for soliciting sexual favours
in exchange for help with contracts, court documents showedNg Boon Gay, 46, former director of the Central Narcotics Bureau,
appeared in a district court accused of "corruptly" obtaining "sexual
gratification... from one Cecilia Sue Siew Nang" on four occasions, a
charge sheet read.He is the second high-ranking civil servant to face prosecution on
sex-for-business charges in a week after similar accusations were filed
against former civil defence chief Peter Lim last Wednesday.read moreDefense chief hit on sex for favorsThe former head of the Singapore Civil Defence Force was
yesterday charged with accepting sex for favors in the most serious corruption
case involving senior government officials in almost 20 years.Peter Lim "is accused of having corruptly obtained sexual gratification from
two female vendors and one potential female vendor to the defense force on 10
occasions between May 2010 and November 2011," said a spokesman for the city-
state's anti-corruption agency.Lim's corruption case is the most serious involving a senior official in
Singapore since 1993, when Yeo Seng Teck, at the time the chief executive of the
Trade Development Board, was investigated for offenses dating from 1988.read moreSenior MFA protocol chief in trouble over expense claims

As chief of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Mr Lim
Cheng Hoe was the go-to guy for advice on how to do things the right
way.

Described by some as a "legend" for his knowledge of diplomatic
protocol, he headed the ministry's section responsible for organising
ministerial and presidential trips overseas.

Two former Singapore Land Authority (SLA) officers involved in a $12 million fraud case were sentenced to jail today.Former deputy director of technology and
infrastructure, Koh Seah Wee, 41, was sentenced to 22 years in jail, and
his subordinate, former manager Lim Chai Meng, 38, was sentenced to 15
years, The Straits Times reported.Koh and Lim both pleaded guilty last week to 55 and 48 charges respectively.
Working in collusion with seven external parties, the men had - in the
time between Jan 2008 and March 2010 - cheated SLA by rendering false
invoices through various business entities for IT services and goods
which were not delivered. In all, SLA paid $12.2 million in 282 contracts to 11 bogus vendors. To
date, $9 million out of the total amount has been recovered.read moreStudent JUMPS TO DEATH after claiming counsellor molested her

She sought help from her ITE counsellor in dealing with her
personal problems last year, but they ended up becoming sexually
intimate.Chiu Ka Ying, who was 16 at the time, then alleged to her school that
her Life Skills lecturer, Mr Michael Tay Jau Jen, 36, had molested her.
Mr Tay later told investigators that it was consensual.The ITE’s investigation report said the allegations could not be
confirmed, but it found that Mr Tay had behaved unprofessionally.read moreWoman in sex-for-grades scandal may lose law degree

Ms
Darinne Ko Wen Hui, the young woman involved in the sex-for-grades
scandal, may lose her law degree. On top of that, she and the associate
professor involved might face disciplinary action from the school.

These
are the worst-case scenarios painted by teaching staff members at the
National University of Singapore, as well as the university itself.

A spokesperson
from NUS said that pending the verdict of the court case, disciplinary
actions “may include revocation of the degree, certificate or any other
outstanding achievements awarded earlier” to the ex-student, Shin Min
Daily News reported.read moreWoman in ‘sex for grades’ case may become witness for prosecution

The
former National University of Singapore (NUS) law student who is
involved in the ‘sex-for-grades’ scandal may become a witness for the
prosecution, according to a report in the Lianhe Wanbao newspaper.

Darinne Ko is alleged to have had sex with her former professor Tey Tsun Hang at NUS for better grades.Tey has been charged in court for corruption. So far, there is no word if Ms Ko will face any legal ramifications from the case.readmoreNUS law professor faces corruption charges

National
University of Singapore associate law professor Tey Tsun Hang was
charged Friday morning with six counts of corruption in a sex-for-grades
scandal.In two of the charges, Tey, 41, a former district judge with Singapore's Subordinate Courts,
was accused of having corruptly obtained sexual gratification from a
Darinne Ko Wen Hui in July 2010, when she had been a student at NUS, as
inducement for showing favour in assessing her academic performance,
court documents showed.In the other charges, Tey
allegedly obtained from Ko from May to July that same year a Mont Blanc
pen worth S$740, two tailor-made shirts valued at S$236.20, an iPod
Touch worth S$160 and payment of a bill amounting to S$1,278.60

Married pastor faces charge of oral sex with minorA 45-year-old assistant pastor has been charged in court with sexual offences involving an underaged girl.Channel NewsAsia
reported that the married man is accused of making the student, who was
15 at the time, perform oral sex on him at a jogging park near Bartley
MRT station.The incident happened between September and October 2011. She was a member of the church where he works.

Former River Valley
High School Principal Mr Steven Koh Yong Chiah, 58, who is assisting
investigations by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), has
been linked to a woman in the educational services industry.According
to Lianhe Wanbao, the woman is said to be running several businesses,
most of them providing education-related services to schools, such as
organising educational trips overseas for schools.Mr Koh had
served as Principal of Chinese High School from 1999 to 2002, before it
merged with Hwa Chong Junior College in 2005 to become HCI.read more

Ex-teacher records sex with student then threatens suicide

He
had sex with his underage student - and even filmed the act. When she
wanted to end the relationship, he threatened to send people to hurt her
and her family. And when the student wanted to report him to the
police, he threatened to kill himself.

He was dramatic in his dirty deeds. And she was left traumatised.

Yesterday,
former drama teacher Aravind S Menon, 25, pleaded guilty to a count of
having sex with the student when she was 14. Aravind, who taught drama
at a secondary school, faces another two
similar charges, which will be taken into consideration during
sentencing on April 25.Other teacher-student sex cases

April 3, 2013 A 30-year-old relief teacher who had sex four times with his student, then 13, was jailed for 18 months.Ross Ryan Kristiaensen had asked the girl to be his girlfriend, had sex with her and then promised to marry her.The two became close after a salad-making competition at the end of July 2009.

April 2, 2013 A former secondary school teacher, 31, was jailed for nine months for molesting his student in a shower cubicle.The teacher used soap to rub the 13-year-old boy's body and private parts at a condominium in Bishan in May 2010.He had invited the victim and his friend there for a swim. He molested the boy when they showered at cubicles near the pool.

March 14, 2013 A primary school teacher who had sex with one of her pupils, then 13, was jailed for a year.The 32-year-old married mother of three had sex with the teen four
times, had oral sex once, and committed an obscene act with him once
between May 2011 and July 2011.

Feb 23, 2009A former primary school teacher was jailed for 10 months for being sexually intimate with an underage boy.She was the first woman in Singapore to be hauled to court for the offence.The married teacher, then 31, had sex with the boy, then 15, six
times - twice in her flat and four times in a chalet - between March and
May 2008.They had met during an overseas trip when he was still in Primary 6 in her school.

Oct 29, 2012 A teacher in a top school was jailed for a year for having sex with an underage student from her school.The 32-year-old married mother of two engaged in sexual activities
with the boy, then 15, a total of nine times between December 2011 and
January last year.
The boy became close to her shortly after a boating accident during a student leaders' camp in Bintan in October 2011read more

Their affair started with her giving him a copy of the
mushy memoir "Eat, Pray, Love." It ended with the 32-year-old female
teacher in Singapore getting a jail sentence for illicit sex with her
15-year-old male student.

The case, which shocked Singapore, was the latest in a string of
scandals involving the city-state's educators, who in the past year have
been caught embezzling college money, committing lewd behavior,
peddling drugs and a couple of times having sex with students. At least
10 such cases have reached the courts this year.

In a country known for its orderliness and strict laws where even
jay-walking and public spitting are punishable offenses, the scandals
are raising questions about whether the government – in its hugely
successful efforts to control political dissidence and crime – has
ignored declining moral and social standards. Full story

Relief teacher charged with sexual offences with 13-year-old studentA relief teacher with a secondary school has been charged with five counts of sexual offences with a 13-year-old girl.The 26-year-old allegedly had sex with the girl twice last year,
and in March and sometime between May and June this year.They had sex at his flat and at a staircase landing of Loyang Point. He
is also accused of having oral sex with the girl at the same staircase
landing in March last year.read moreEx-teacher charged with having sex with boyAs the Ministry of Education prepares to launch a code of conduct for
teachers next year, another former teacher has been charged with having
sex with a student - the latest in a string of cases of professional
misconduct involving teachers.The 32-year-old woman was a primary school teacher at the time of the alleged offences, and the student was 13.The woman faces five counts of consensual sex with an underage boy and one count of committing an obscene act.read moreFemale teacher jailed for having sex with underage studentA female teacher has been handed a one-year jail term for having sex with her 15-year-old male student.The teacher, who turned up in court with several family members, broke down upon her sentencing.She pleaded guilty last week to two counts of sexual offences with a boy under 16 years of age.read more

Teacher pleads guilty to string of upskirt video offences

A secondary school teacher pleaded guilty today to a string of offences
that involved him using his mobile phone to take upskirt videos.

Seow Swee Hong, 39, who taught at a school in the eastern part of Singapore, was picked up by police on July 25 last year.

A store manager of the Popular bookstore at Toa Payoh HDB Hub had
caught him taking upskirt videos of female students there.

The former school teacher accused of having sex with her student now
faces an additional eight charges, bringing the total number to nine. The woman, who is in her early 30s, was originally charged with
one count of having sex with a minor under the age of 16 some time in
January. She is now accused of having sex with the same student on three other occasions in January. Wearing glasses and sporting side-swept hair, the petite woman
also faces three counts of digital penetration with the teen in December
last year. She allegedly gave the student oral sex twice in December last year.read more

Ex-teacher who filmed girls in school toilet sentenced to 1 year's jail

A
former science teacher at a secondary school in Jurong who had filmed
girls in the school toilet was yesterday jailed one year.Bertrand
Ngien Wen Tseah, 37, was found guilty of three offences - insulting the
modesty of a woman, mischief and destroying evidence.On Feb 15, he hid three pinhole cameras in the female toilet and recorded a video of a 14-year-old student using the toilet.read moreFemale ex-teacher gets 10 months' jail for having sex with studentA former primary school teacher who had sex with her student has been sentenced to 10 months' jail.She
is the first woman to feel the weight of stricter laws passed last year
to protect minors from sexual offences. Her name has been withheld in
order to protect the identity of the boy.Their relationship
began innocently - with phone calls and text messages after an overseas
school trip to China which she had led. Then came meetings - where they
window-shopped, watched movies and had meals together.

Wong had committed the acts after his return from Britain, following his
expulsion from school and revocation of his student visa. He returned
to Singapore in January 2011 after an eight-month supervision for his
child pornography charges, said Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao

The undergraduate who attacked four police
officers after having too much to drink has been sentenced to 15 months
of probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.Natasha Wan Xue Wen, 24, pleaded guilty to using criminal force and
abusive words on public servants, and behaving in disorderly manner.Wan is also required to stay at home from 11pm to 6am during her
probation period. Her parents signed a $5,000 bond to ensure her good
behaviour.
She was warned by the district judge that anything other that strict
adherence to these conditions could have her hauled back to court to be
sentenced.read moreEx-lecturer jailed for stealing from men she met at casino

A Malaysian woman addicted to gambling stole money from men whom she had befriended at a casino.Melviana Johnson Fu, 30, committed the thefts after she had accompanied them to hotel rooms or, in one case, an apartment.
On one occasion, she even took the victim’s trousers, probably to prevent him from giving chase.A district court on Wednesday jailed her for 10 months. She had pleaded guilty to committing three counts of theft.read moreNaval officer is latest accused planning to plead guilty

In the latest development of the online vice ring case that has so far
implicated 48 men, a naval officer charged with having paid sex with an
underage girl is planning to plead guilty.

Chan Wei Kiat, 27, allegedly committed the offence between 2.02pm and
3.03pm on Nov 6, 2010. He was charged with paying $600 to the underage
girl for sex at Hotel 81 Lavender, Lianhe Wanbao reported.

He indicated his intention to plead guilty through his lawyer, Defence
Counsel Josephus Tan, and would know his court date on 13 August. He has
been suspended from duty since investigation started.

A specialist army
officer has been sentenced to two years' jail for conspiring with four
accomplices to cheat Marina Bay Sands of nearly S$150,000 between July
and August in 2011.Toh Kaida, 29, who was suspended by the Singapore Armed Forces, had admitted earlier this month to 19 charges of cheating.The Prosecution proceeded on five chargesread moreBenedict Ang Yong Chuean CommittedIndecent ActsNavy Lieutenant (LTA) Benedict Ang Yong Chuean, An international student at the Australian Defence Force Academy, was charged with two counts of indecency without consent.The Sword of Honor recipient allegedly entered the room of a female cadet on May 6 and committed the act.It’s the latest in a string of legal
headaches for the academy, in which three other cadets have been brought
before Canberra courts on unrelated matters since April 2011.read more153 complaints against doctors here last yearComplaints about alleged professional negligence and competence of
doctors surged last year from 2010, even as the total number of
complaints received by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) remained
stable.The SMC, which regulates the professional conduct
of doctors here, received 96 complaints alleging professional negligence
and competence last year, more than double the 44 received in 2010.These formed the bulk of the 153 complaints received last year,
which held steady from 2010 when there were 152 complaints.
The number of complaints per 1,000 doctors, however, dipped from 16 to
15, as the number of doctors here grew by 7.6 per cent to 10,057 last
year.read moreSuspended psychiatrist releases public apology

The psychiatrist
who was involved in an affair with a female patient has released a
public apology through the Lianhe Wanbao newspaper, saying he is
remorseful for his actions.

Dr
Douglas Kong Sim Guan, a 63-year-old psychiatrist, had his license
suspended for three years from 24 June and fined $10,000, after his
13-year-long affair with a married female patient came to light.

He asked her for her personal phone number and she thought it was for work-related matters.After she gave
him the number, he allegedly started calling her asking her to be his
friend, to go out on dates and even to have sex with him.He continued his advances even after she pointed out to him that he is a married man

A SRI Lankan doctor working at the Changi General
Hospital (CGH) was charged in Court yesterday (2 Jul) with three counts of
touching the buttocks of a nurse in the operating theatre.

Senaka
Liyanage, a University of Colombo graduate, is accused of touching the
26-year-old’s buttocks between 11am and noon on April 5 while an operation was
going on. He was part of a team of doctors performing the operation on a patient
that day.

The alleged victim reported the doctor to a senior nurse who
then brought the matter to the nursing director.

National University of
Singapore (NUS) associate law professor Tey Tsun Hang was arrested by
the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau (CPIB) in April this year
for allegedly giving out a good grade in exchange for sex.

To date he
has not been suspended by the university, he still gets to keep his
Herman Miller seat (or equivalent) - poor Nparks staff had their
Brompton bikes taken away.

Maybe it has to do with the
precedent set by Ministry of Education (MOE) when they allowed their
scholar Jonathan Wong to teach in a Secondary School in July 2010
despite being arrested for possession and making of child pornography in
the United Kingdom earlier in March. MOE's lame excuse was: “His
offence only came to light after he was charged in court in November.”
NUS has to come up with something more credible.read moreNo apology for M Ravi affairLaw Soc President declares issue 'concluded' but not all members pleasedSingapore Law
Society members called on its president Wong Meng Meng yesterday to
apologise for the society's handling of the recent clash with lawyer M
Ravi, as well as for Mr Wong to recuse himself from chairing the
Extraordinary General Meeting.The closed-door
meeting, which saw 504 of the society's 4,000 members in attendance,
closed on a sour note for some as they left the two-hour session without
their doubts answered.After the meeting, Mr Wong told reporters he "gave reasons to why there should not be an apology" but did not elaborate further.read moreMembers seek clarification on clash between M Ravi & law societySome
50 members of the Law Society of Singapore have sought full
clarification from the society's Council on its conduct and protocols.The
move, which indicates a widening divide among members, comes after a
Law Society council member, Mr Wong Siew Hong, appeared in High Court in
July to hand over a letter from lawyer M Ravi's psychiatrist. The letter had stated Mr Ravi was medically-unfit to practise. At that time, Mr Ravi was in court to argue the Hougang by-election case. read moreLawyer M Ravi begins legal action against Law Society, Wong Siew Hong

Lawyer M Ravi begins legal action...

SINGAPORE:
Lawyer M Ravi says he has started legal proceedings against the Law
Society of Singapore and Mr Wong Siew Hong for alleged defamation and
damage to reputation.Mr Ravi's lawyers filed the suit in the High Court at 4.30pm on Friday.He is expected to serve the court papers to the two parties next Tuesday.

The
Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore (ACLS) has criticised the
Law Society of Singapore, saying that it viewed "with some trepidation"
the actions of a Law Society representative who, on Monday, submitted a
medical letter to the High Court stating that lawyer M Ravi is unfit to
practise.It
sent a letter to the society, which it also released to the media. While
acknowledging the ACLS' disagreements in the past with Mr Ravi, the
letter - dated Tuesday and signed by ACLS President Subhas Anandan -
said the incident "left a very bitter taste in the mouths and has
potentially brought the Bar into disrepute".It added: "Justice Pillai acquitted himself well by ignoring
(the society) representative who had absolutely no locus in this
matter."

read moreAGC: Law of contempt needed to protect ‘public confidence’ in administration of justice in Singapore

For the second time in less than a month, the Attorney-General Chambers
(AGC) felt compelled to issue a public statement to clear up lingering
skepticism in the public about its decisions.

Two weeks ago, the AGC issued a media statement to explain the charges
leveled against plastic surgeon Woffles Wu for abetting somebody to take
the rap for him for two speeding offences.

The fiasco sparked a massive outcry among Singaporeans, among whom is
blogger Alex Au who wrote two articles insinuating that Woffles Wu was
‘favorably’ treated under the law, prompting AGC to send a letter to him
threatening to charge him for contempt of court unless he retracts his
article and apologizes which he eventually did so.Now, AGC is explaining its decision to use the law of contempt to send Alex Au the warningread moreContempt of CourtAnyone
keeping score? In the latest round of Blogger versus AGC
(Attorney-General's Chambers), it was enlightening to read that the
judge is not as thin skinned as generally assumed. We are given
following assurance:

Expanding,
the AGC spokesman added, "It is contempt, however, to say that the
court was biased if there is no objective rational basis to do so." The
emphasis seems to be on the word "biased", but still, you wouldn't want
to tell the judge his mother wears army boots, or worse.

Choo Zheng Xi, a Consultant Editor of TOC and a lawyer in private practice, wrote an article (‘Questions Remain in Woffles Wu Matter‘)
on 17 Jun, hoping the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) can clarify why
Woffles Wu was not charged under Section 182 of the Penal Code.Earlier, the Minister of Law and Foreign Affairs Mr K Shanmugam has
clarified that Wu was charged under Section 81 (3) of the Road Traffic
Act instead of the more serious Section 204A of the Penal Code for
perverting the course of justice because Section 204A was only enacted
in 2008 while Wu’s offence had occurred in 2006.However, Zheng Xi noted that Wu could have been charged under Section
182 of the Penal Code instead as this section was already in force at
the time of Wu’s offence. In his research, Zheng Xi noted that Section 182 has been successfully
used in a number of cases involving the provision of false information
to the police in traffic related violations. He gave the following
examples:

First they took sex offenders to court. Then they took civil offenders to court.
They also took commercial offenders to court. And the latest, they took God to
court.There has been a spate of court cases on corruption June. Don't know if this is because of the sweltering temperature. This was preceded by sex cases in May. I wonder what July will bring. One cannot but be impressed by the work rate of the Attorney General's Chambers.Going by these cases (and more to come?), they can look forward to big performance bonuses at the end of the year, particularly if the cases lead to convictions and fines. I am not suggesting for a moment that the AGC has monetary motives in mind when they haul people to court. I am glad that they are doing what they are paid to do - uphold the law of the land and make the point that Singapore is not a place for any sort of hanky-panky.

A SHOCKING revelation: The figure was more than twice the one given on
Tuesday for the amount of funds allegedly misused by City Harvest Church
leaders.

At yesterday's court hearing, deputy public prosecutor Christopher Ong
read out a laundry list of misappropriated funds that added up to a
staggering $50.6 million. This dwarfs the $23 million reported after the five were arrested on Tuesday.

Church founder Kong Hee, 47; his deputy, Tan Ye Peng, 39; church board
member John Lam Leng Hung, 44; church investment manager Chew Eng Han,
52; and church financial manager Sharon Tan Shao Yuen, 36, looked on
impassively as they stood in a row to hear their charges.

The courtroom was packed with Kong's supporters. An area normally
cordoned off was opened up to accommodate them. Even so, not all of the
200 who turned up could get in, as a queue snaked outside the room.

For
two years, from 2010, the Commissioner of Charities (COC) and the
Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) conducted a concurrent investigation
and inquiry into suspected financial irregularities inside the City
Harvest church.

On June 26, 2012, five of its leaders,
including founder Kong Hee, were arrested over alleged misuse of church
funds and alleged breaches under charity laws

The COC revealed that financial irregularities of at least $23 million
from the charity's funds have been discovered which it said were used
with the purported intention to finance Ho Yeow Sun's secular music
career to connect with people. 42-year-old pop singer Ho Yeow Sun, also
known as Sun Ho, is Kong Hee's wife

48 men have been charged in court for paying for sex with an underage prostitute. Another 14 are under probe.

The
accused include civil servants, high flyers in the finance industry,
and other notable figures. 80 men have been implicated in the case. More
charges are expected to be filed.

The following is a list of 44 men who have been charged with having
commercial sex with a person under 18 years of age. The youngest accused is 21 years old, and the oldest is 48. The accused
include a former police superintendent, military officers, a lawyer,
businessmen and other professionals.

read moreTwo men who had paid sex with minor ‘shocked’ by her real age

Two men who had paid sex with an underage girl said they were “shocked” when they discovered she was 17.Channel NewsAsia reported that Louis Lee Lip Kian, 33, and Pyi Kyaw Han, 31, also felt the website misled them about her age.Both men were each sentenced to 12 weeks' jail today. They are part of 51 men implicated in an online vice ring case.read more

Man gets 11 weeks' jail for underage paid sexA navy captain was sentenced to 11 weeks' jail on Monday for having paid sex
with an underage prostitute.Chan Wei Kiat, 27, is the 11th man to be
sentenced in the online vice ring saga involving 51 men.Chan had paid
S$500 for sex with the girl, then 17 years old, on 6 November 2010 at a hotel in
Lavender Street.read moreEighth man in vice ring case jailed

Wilson Oei, 26, was yesterday sentenced to nine weeks in jail for having sex with an underage prostitute.He is the eighth man to be convicted in a high-profile online vice ring case that has implicated 51 men.In
his mitigation, Oei's lawyer Chen Chee Yen said Oei's age gap with the
17-year-old prostitute was relatively narrow when the offence was
committed on Sept 26, 2010.read moreAnother man convicted of sex offence in vice ring caseA 28-year-old
businessman has been jailed 12 weeks for having paid sex with an
underage girl. He is the seventh man jailed in the online sex ring case
involving 51 men.Raziuddin Mohamed
Naseem was sentenced today, Channel NewsAsia reported. He pleaded
guilty to paying S$500 to get sexual services from a 17-year-old girl on
18 November 2010. Raziuddin found out about the girl's services online
and then contacted her pimp, Tang Boon Thiew, who arranged for them to
meet at Hotel 81 Bencoolen.The court heard
that when they met, he did not verify her age. In Singapore, it is
illegal to have paid sex with a girl below 18 years of age.read moreToy designer jailed 13 weeks in online vice case

Singapore toymaker Ban Yinh Jheow has been jailed 13 weeks for having
paid sex with an underage girl in the online vice ring scandal.

He is the sixth man jailed in the online vice ring scandal involving 51 men.

Ban, 42, who is married, started toy brand Stikfas that has sold
millions of award-winning plastic action figures, Channel NewsAsia
reported. A Singapore Business Review report also mentioned that Stikfas
has a licensing deal with global games company Hasbro.

A
policeman's long career came crashing down after he was jailed 12 weeks
on Monday for having paid sex with an underage girl in the high-profile
online vice case.

39-year-old
Tan Wee Kiat, who has been in the police force for 14 years, was one of
several men charged for having paid sex with the same girl.

In
his sentencing, District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said that Tan, who did
not verify the girl's age, "should have known better." However, he noted
that Tan, a senior police officer, did not commit the offence while on
duty.

Three
more men have been charged for having sex with an underage prostitute
in relation to a high-profile online vice ring case, The Straits Times
reported.

This
is in addition to the 48 men who have been charged so far, bringing the
total number of men implicated to 51. They are accused of having hired
the girl, who was then below 18 years of age and has her identity
protected by a gag order, through her alleged pimp, Tang Boon Thiew.

The three charged are Ban Yinh Jheow, 42; Arjunan Kulasegaram, 37; and Koh Kooi Hon, in his 40s. All about the case

Three
more accused in a Singapore under-age sex scandal will plead guilty to
the charges, court officials confirmed to Bikyamasr.com on Tuesday late
afternoon.

In
the latest development involving some 48 men charged with paying for
sex to an under-age sex worker, three men pleaded guilty to the charges,
their lawyers revealed.

The
three men are Tan Wee Kiat, 39, a former police superintendent; Goh Wee
Seong, 34, a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) technician, and Ng Guan Mean,
37, the former director of a finance company. Ng has quit his job, and
Goh has been suspended by the SAF.

A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to eight weeks' jail for paying an underage Vietnamese hostess for sex.

Justin Guo Zhijia admitted to having sex with the girl in July last year, when she was 16 years old.They had met at V4 Karaoke Pub, where she was working.read moreFormer prosecutor charged with underaged sex with Vietnamese prostitute

He was a deputy public prosecutor for seven years. Then, he set up his own law practice in the 1980s.

On Friday, the lawyer of almost 30 years found himself on the other side of the legal system.

Spencer
Gwee Hak Theng, 59, was charged in court with having sex with an
underage girl, who was 16 at the time of the offence. He allegedly paid
$300 for sexual services from a Vietnamese girl on July 19 last year at
Four Chain View Hotel at 757, Geylang Road Lorong 39.

A 23-year-old man who impersonated a police officer and sexually
assaulted a 12-year-old girl was jailed eight-and-a-half-years for his
offences yesterday. Jafny Mohamed Sunny was also ordered to be caned 12
strokes.The High Court heard Jafny entered a HDB lift
with the victim - who could not be named to protect her identity - on
Oct 8, 2010. Wearing a polo shirt with a logo of the military police and
the words "Traffic Enforcement" on it, Jafny told the victim that he
was a police officer and was going to conduct a check on her for drugs.Jafny then flashed his military police warrant card and asked the
victim to follow him to the rubbish chute area on the 13th floor, where
he outraged her modesty. When the victim put up a struggle, Jafny told
her that she would be brought to the police station if she did not
cooperate. He proceeded to outrage her modesty further.read moreTuition teacher, 51, preys on boys he teachesHe was a tutor at
a tuition centre run by a Residents’ Committee and for at least three
years, he sexually abused young boys he taught, because a “ghost” told
him to do it.The boys he abused were aged between eight and 15, and two of them are brothers.On Friday, the
51-year-old tutor was sentenced to 15 years’ jail for his sexual
offences. He cannot be caned because he is above 50 years of age. He
also cannot be named due to a court order to protect the boys’
identities.

A former grassroots leader was sentenced to 18 months' jail on Tuesday
for molesting a five-year-old boy after a basketball game.

Kelvin Chan Kum Poh, 31, was a volunteer committee member at the Bishan
East Community Sports Centre and Youth Executive Club when he met the
boy at a game arcade in Causeway Point on Oct 1, 2010, the court heard.

Chan told the boy he wanted to take him out for a basketball game. The
boy then took Chan to meet his 62-year-old grandmother, who agreed to
let him do so after Chan showed her his grassroots leader's card.

Spared jail term because he showed genuine remorseFormer Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) senior executive Peter Khoo Chong Meng was preparing himself for lifebehind bars. He had pleaded guilty in August to two counts of corruption and one of criminal breach of trustThe prosecution had pressed for a custodial sentence, but the 49-year-old managed to escape a jail term.District Judge Soh Tze Bian decided during Khoo's sentencing on Dec 6
that he would be fined $100,000, on top of an $83,500 penalty which was
the total sum of bribes he pocketed.read moreFormer SPH exec pleads guilty to corruption, CBT chargesFormer Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) senior executive Peter Khoo Chong
Meng (picture) pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of corruption and
one count of criminal breach of trust.

Seven other similar charges have been taken into consideration.Khoo, 49, was Senior Vice-President of the English and Malay
newspapers division and also headed the committee that held events to
raise funds for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. He was
dismissed from SPH in September 2010.read moreMan who cheated bank has jail time reduced by half

A man who cheated OCBC bank by forging 176 invoices, which led to S$2.6
million being credited to his company's account, had his prison sentence
halved after a High Court judge allowed his appeal on Wednesday.

Tan Thiam Wee was the director of software company Idealsoft, which had a
factoring agreement with OCBC. This meant that, if it had given a
customer an invoice that had not been paid, the company could ask OCBC
to advance 85 per cent of the value.

As his company was facing cash-flow problems in late 2007, Tan created
false invoices and submitted them to OCBC to maintain the company's
working capital. He also created false invoices and purchase orders to
support those documents.

A district court found a former manager of Sony Electronics Asia Pacific guilty of accepting nearly $3.3 million in bribes.Pheh
Boon Leng, 46, was charged today with 19 offences which were committed
over two years, reported The Straits Times. He continued accepting
bribes even after he was promoted to Senior Manager in July 2004.Pheh collaborated with two Indonesians, Mr Acing who owns Kencana Jaya
and Mr Agus Handaja who owns P.D. Yanco, to sell off Sony media products
at below cost prices. They agreed to pay 10 per cent of the total sales
value of each shipment to Pheh.read moreFormer MBS casino dealer charged with corruptionA former dealer at the Marina Bay Sands casino was charged on Wednesday with three counts of corruption.38-year-old
Kenneth Lim Khan Lerk was allegedly in cahoots with a pit supervisor
and a patron to cheat the casino of S$31,500. He allegedly pocketed
S$10,000 from the illegal proceeds.The charges include one count
of agreeing to accept gratification and two counts of corruptly
attempting to obtain gratification.read moreFour top chefs from famous hotels charged with corruptionThe Straits Times reported that four chefs from well-known hotels in Singapore were charged with corruption on Friday.They are – Tan Ah Teng, of Goodwood Park Hotel, Chik Ka Chung, who was
with Wan Hao restaurant in Marriot Hotel, Yang Lai Fatt, formerly with
Meritus Mandarin, and Goh Wooi Cheat, formerly the chef of Summer Palace
of Regent Hotel.Tay Ee Tiong, the former proprietor
of the Bedok-based seafood supplier,
Wealthy Seafood Product and Enterprise, was jailed for 11 months in
September 2011. He had pleaded guilty to bribing 19 chefs from 17 hotels
and restaurants, with sums amounting to $992,404 from 2006 to 2009. The
men are among 19 alleged to have accepted kickbacks from seafood
supplier.read moreFHM cover girl arrested for alleged drug related activities

The
New Paper (TNP) has identified the local model arrested for alleged
drug related activities last week as former FHM magazine cover girl and
blogger Celestina Tiew.

She was the winner of FHM’s “The Girl Next Door”, competition in 2009 and has appeared in numerous print and television ads.read moreMan raped, molested 22 women and filmed lewd acts

He called himself different names to different women - Denny
Azar, Denny Susanto, Shawn Rozario Tan, Shawn Tan and Terence Shawn Tan.But his real name is Azuar Ahamad, and there was always one goal in
his mind – to drug the women and later molest or rape them. Sometimes,
he would also use his mobile phone to film himself raping the women,
grabbing their breasts or fondling their genitals.His sordid deeds came to light on Tuesday (7 Aug) in High Court when
he pleaded guilty to raping three women and sexually assaulting a
fourth.read more71 women arrested in multi-agency operation in Geylang

Police on Saturday
said that 71 women were arrested in an eight-hour multi-agency operation
on entertainment outlets in the Geylang area.

A total of 85
suspected drug offenders were rounded up in an island-wide operation by
the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) that began on Monday and ended today.Of those
arrested, 78 were arrested for suspected drug abuse and seven were
arrested for involvement in drug trafficking. An assortment of drugs was
seized, including about 21 grams of heroin, 4 grams of 'Ice,' 4 grams
of cannabis as well some Ecstasy and ketamine.read more111 suspected drug offenders arrested in islandwide operation

Many of them have worked non-stop since surge in high-profile corruption cases early this yearWith the surfacing of the most recent sex-for-grades corruption case
involving ex-law student Darinne Ko Wen Hui, 22 and law professor Tey
Tsun Hang, 41, the usually squeaky clean, zero-corruption image of
Singapore is taking a beating.And anti-corruption officers are battling exhaustion as many are
dying from the workload of investigating so many cases back-to-back
since the start of the year, where ex-SCDF commissioner, Peter Lim was
investigated for making sexy times with at least three women in exchange
for business deals.The number of cases have been
piling up and there appears to be no respite in sight. An anonymous
anti-corruption investigator said: “When I signed up for
this job, I thought I could slack because Singapore got very low
corruption, right?”read moreBlack money: India, Singapore to share information on tax evadersIndia and Singapore will share a list of suspected tax evaders and
cases related to black money next week as part of bilateral financial
enforcement cooperation between the two countries.A top-level team of Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)
will meet officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and
Income Tax department to exchange data on a number of cases of black
money that India suspects is routed from the banking and financial
institutions of the Southeast Asian country.The team, according to sources, had come with the official
entourage of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who visited
India earlier this month.read moreSuspect in $4.3 mil gold heist has left S'poreOne of the two men allegedly involved in a $4.3million gold heist last Saturday had managed to escape.

Police have confirmed that Jonas Tan Teck Leng left Singapore even
before a police report was made by the complainant about the theft.

The New Paper understands that he allegedly escaped with part of the loot.read morePrevious million-dollar heists

The last reported gold heist with a local connection happened 19 years ago.

Fifty gold bars went missing on Jan 6, 1993, in Penang, Malaysia, shortly after arriving on a Singapore Airlines flight.Brink's Incorporated had been hired to transport the gold, which had an estimated value of $832,000 then.

read moreSteamy year for high-ranking Singapore menFOR the second
week running, alleged indiscretions of high-ranking men have been making
the headlines in Singapore. On Tuesday, it was former Central Narcotics
Bureau director Ng Boon
Gay’s turn in court. He is alleged to have used his position to gain
sexual favours. Ng is said to have obtained oral sex four times from
Cecilia Sue Siew
Nang, a sales manager seeking government contracts for information
technology vendors.His court date follows that of Peter Lim Sin Pang, the former Singapore
Civil Defence Force commissioner who was charged with similar offences
last week. Lim faces 10 counts of corruption involving sex with women
executives seeking government contracts for their companies.The duo are but
the most recent examples of what has been a steamy year for high-ranking
Singaporean men. Indeed, Singapore has never had such a slew of sex
scandals crop up around the same time. In February, former Hougang MP
Yaw Shin Leong was expelled from the Workers’ Party amid allegations of
extramarital affairs. In April, 48 men – including a school principal
and those holding
prominent positions in the private sector – were accused of having sex
with an underaged prostitute in an online vice ring. While the spotlight
in the latest cases has mostly been trained on
corruption, there are increased murmurings on the issue of promiscuity
and sexual morality in Singapore.

2012 may be Singapore’s most scandal-ridden year yet, barely halfway
through it and already five high profile scandals have pulled at the
moral fabric of our once squeaky-clean nation.Acts, we can only assume (and allegedly) committed in the name of
achieving happiness, prosperity and progress, here’s a look at the first
– and hopefully, only – five scandals of 2012.Aptly named as the biggest sex scandal to ever run wild in Singapore,
the online vice ring involved 48 men who allegedly had paid sex with an
underage prostitute after engaging her services online.
Three big names popped up in this sexual foray: Lee Lip Hong, former
principal of Pei Chun Public School, Howard Shaw, former Singapore
Environment Council head and Chua Ren Cheng, former teacher at River
Valley High School.read moreHigh Fliers In Hot Soup

We
kid you not. Some children in Singapore are so poor, they don't stay
back after school for remedial lessons because they can't afford to eat
at the canteen. That's what financial lifelines like the Straits Times
School Pocket Money Fund are meant for. Imagine what sort of despicables
would stoop to rob from such impoverished unfortunates.Singapore
Press Holdings (SPH) senior vice-president Peter Khoo was charged in
court yesterday for misappropriating shopping vouchers to the tune of
$23,000 while he was the organising chairman of the activities and
events for the School Pocket Money Fund. That plus obtaining monetary
gratifications from related shady business deals between July 2006 and
August 2010.The
nation had yet to come to grips with last week's exposé regarding Chief
of Protocol with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lim Cheng Hoe's fiddling
with his expense claims for overseas trips. A guy who was awarded the
Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2009, and careerist veteran of
38 years playing host for countless VVIP visits. No information is given
about the monetary sums involved, but whatever amount he pocketed, he
will be paying for it in spades.read moreWhat’s happening to squeaky clean Singapore?

For starters, corruption is nothing new in Singapore. Back in 1986,
former National Development Minister Teh Cheang Wan was investigated for
corruption which subsequently resulted him in taking his own life
before charges could proceed.

In 2005, corruption again reared its ugly head in the charity sector
involving the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) which caused much public
distrust as the CEO was reported in The Straits Times to have installed
“a glass-panelled shower, a pricey German toilet bowl and a S$1, 000
(US$782) gold-plated tap.” There were also revelations following court
proceedings that he paid himself $S600, 000 (US$469, 000). In a manner
befitting poetic justice, taking the paper to court for defamation
sealed his fate and led to his downfall. It also opened a can of worms
that Singapore is not as corruption-free as it seems.

This year, stories of alleged corruptions came to light again when
two high ranking officers in the civil service were hauled to court in a
“sex-for-business” corruption cases. Yesterday, another major scandal
broke that City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee had used at least S$23
million (US$18 million) to fund his wife’s, Sun Ho, pop star career.
Five leaders were arrested yesterday – another high profile case that
has hit the public’s consciousness yet again in years.

read moreWhy Chinese Officials Are In Love With The Singapore ModelIn 1992, Deng Xiaoping, the former leader of the Chinese Communist
Party who was instrumental in leading China to a market economy,
described Singapore (EWS) as a strict, well-managed country
that China must learn from and excel.Fifteen years later, Wang Yang, a
Politburo member, highlighted the Singapore Model as the best candidate
for China to emulate. His enthusiasm is shared by Xi Jingping, the
top-ranked member of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of
China, who made a trip to Singapore in order to consult with former
Prime Minister Lee Kuan and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, his
top priority after being confirmed as China's next leader.There
is a reason that the Chinese apparatchiks have developed a new-found
love for the Singapore Model: The economic tidal wave unleashed by
Xiaoping's economic reforms is beginning to undermine the Communist
Party of China's control. The rise of the merchant class along China's
coast has fueled calls for a decentralization of power, and now the CPC
is looking for a new political structure to adopt that will both placate
China's burgeoning middle class and preserve its own power and
prerogatives. Singapore has replaced the West as China's new economic
role model.